


Super Time Cadet, in...The Pilot Episode!

by Coelpts



Series: Super Friend Cadets! [2]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Gotta test that project man. Gotta get an A+, I wrote the whole transformation sequence, Magical Girl Shenanigans, Rumbi is mentioned, Some technobabble, Super Friend Cadets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-05 12:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14043960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coelpts/pseuds/Coelpts
Summary: Hat Kid is stranded on a new planet, with only her new friend Mustache Girl for company. While going over The Plan to overthrow the Mafia of Cooks, Hat Kid makes an extraordinary breakthrough and becomes...Super Time Cadet! Don't touch that dial, birds at home- it's the Pilot Episode!





	Super Time Cadet, in...The Pilot Episode!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy this is like double and then some the size of the previous fic. Thanks to those who left comments and kudos on the first fic, thanks to those who READ the first fic, and thanks for reading THIS fic!
> 
> Since this is "The Pilot Episode", the main thing in this AU/Storyset- the Sailor Cap- is introduced and explained. Also there's a lot of friend bonding and listen, I will protect Mustache Girl. I love this small violence.

"The Plan" had devolved into scribbles and diagrams, although you don't think Mustache Girl was really paying any attention. She was still describing all the nasty ways she could get revenge on that Mafia of Cooks, and you got pretty grossed out somewhere around the "throw half in a wood chipper" plan. Your mind idled on an idea you had for a while, and were working on before that rude Mafia decided he wanted to shake you down. Not on _this_ spaceship!  
  
You sigh and look out the window on the faux door of this Tutorial set. Maybe you could gather the Time Pieces really fast. Maybe they all landed in Mafia Town! Wouldn't that be lucky!  
  
Mustache Girl snaps her fingers in your face. You jump, hat plopping forward on your head. "Um, hellooooo? Earth to kid?...Space to kid?" She's got this grin that's a mixture of genuine malice and absolute giddiness. It reminds you of the time when Pranks Day also fell on a major holiday and your parents filled prize capsules with ketchup. "I've got the _perfect_ plan!"  
  
The hooded girl jumps up and spins the blackboard, showing a...graphic sketch of her stomping a Mafia goon into a vase. "We'll smash them up, and mush them into jars, THEN sell the jars for pocket change! It'll be the ultimate irony!"  
  
You want to point out that this sort of just sounds cruel to you. After all, if they were dead, wouldn't that keep them from getting the joke? Before you can, Mustache Girl has a change of thought. Rather than prattling on about how this was the _best_ plan, she sighs and uses an eraser to scrub the blackboard clean. "But, first, before we can do THAT," She grumbles, "We'll have to take out the Boss of the Mafia."  
  
She clicks the chalk on the board a good few times and renders a drawing of a fat man in a stupid outfit sitting on a throne that looks too expensive. You admire his hat, but that's really all he's got going for him. Seems that Mustache Girl agrees and has rendered little notes around him, pointing out that he's bad, and dumb, and probably doesn't have the best personal hygiene. "He's somewhere in their Mafia HQ. Once we dethrone him, our mush and jar party will be no problem!"  
  
...This statement is probably true, so you nod in agreement. Mustache girl claps her hands in excitement. "I'm so glad you think so too! Now. We're over the plan- let's talk prep." She erases the board again and starts clicking more chalk to it. "Specifically, let's talk _you_."  
  
You point to yourself in confusion. You? But you had an umbrella and everything! You could beat up those Mafia jerks no problem! You could jump, and homing attack, and were very small and hard for them to hit. The only thing you could think of would be to make some sort of magical transformation device, but that Mafia goon interrupted you before you could really get into making another prototype of that.  
  
Mustache Girl turns back from her drawing- aw, it's you! Your nose is a bit too big though. She crosses her arms. "We gotta get you geared up, kid! Your hat is." She doesn't have the word, instead gesturing into open air with her hands. "Basic. And we don't do basic in THIS rebellion!"  
  
She did _not_. You're ready to throw down, right here and now. You made this hat yourself, with incredible pinpoint look-at-this-thing technology! You start to climb up onto your desk while Mustache Girl continues to scribble on the blackboard. "But I've got the PERFECT solution- more hats!"  
  
...You're interested. You slide back into the seat, fingers entwined and looking just over them. Wait. Oh no, you posed like the villain from Super Sailor World Defender Corgis!  
  
Actually you're ok with that. Let her present her perfect solution to you, and YOU will be the judge of it! _ **Muahaha-** _ nope, too in character, gotta stop.  
  
This drawing now has you smiling like a big dork with lots of hats around you. That one looks like a witch hat, that one's sort of like a headband. Was that a hood?...Like Mustache Girl's? She finishes the drawing and points at the yellow ball she just sketched. "Yarn can be found around Mafia Town and can stitch up new hats if you're crafty. I collected some for you! No need to thank me."  
  
She tosses you a ball of red and white yarn. You're not ready for this. You unclasp your hands and send a paper off the desk, scrambling up to catch this small ball of wound up yarn. It, thankfully, lands right in the palm of your hand. Hey! Wait a minute, you collected some of this sprinty yarn in Mafia Town, too! You bet you could make a hat out of this right here and now, but...  
  
Actually, you've got a better idea. You get up from the schoolroom set and dash over to the main computer system to your spaceship. Mustache Girl jumps, watching as you leap from your seat and scamper away from her carefully planned tutorial. She fumes before following you. "Hey! I wasn't done yet, you know! It's rude to abandon class in the middle of a lesson!"  
  
The amount you care is absolutely none. You only had two Time Pieces so far, but that was enough to reach into the ship's hyperstorage. You beep bop boop beep some buttons and call up a big inventory list. Mustache Girl is left to steam in silence while you roll your trackball down the list, looking for...looking for...there it is! You're glad you put it away before the Mafia broke into your spaceship. You bop beep another few buttons for recall, and recall another ball of yarn while you're at it. This one's white and blue, with a bit of your signature purple wound in and accessorized with a little purplish hourglass-shaped gem.  
  
A recall tube extends from the wall next to Mustache Girl and she stumbles back, a blueprint fluttering into her face and a ball of yarn shooting over her head. She sputters and huffs and throws her hands up in the air, throwing a tiny tantrum fitting for her small stature. "Who-why-what is _THIS_?!" Finally she frees herself from her blue prison, slapping the paper to the floor.  
  
You run back to get that other ball of yarn. It's rolled under your desk, so you crawl down and get it, along with the rest of your scribbly sketches. Maybe, you couldn't do this since you didn't have enough yarn! Maybe that was the key to all of this! You stamp back over to Mustache Girl, who is now looking at your blueprints like they're all so much gibberish. You suppose they are to her. You don't think she knows your native language.  
  
"So, uh...What's this, exactly?" She huffs, pointing to the entire blueprint. You tap your chin for a moment. It's your school project, so you've been working on it while you get home, but something about it hasn't worked, really. How to explain? Well, better start with the fact that it's a hat. Mustache Girl seems to grasp that concept. You point out various parts of the diagram while you explain how it works- the Light Fibers used to initiate the transformation, how it computes how much force to generate to achieve levitation, the science of lightwoven fabric and how much more powerful it is-  
  
"Hold on, kid, hold on. You lost me." Mustache Girl is at best confused, and at worst completely mystified by every word you said. "So, it makes dresses and lets you fly? Do you, become a _bird_? Or...?"  
  
You sigh and throw up your hands in frustration. Fine, you'll go for the cartoon option. It'll allow whoever wears it to become a super friendship and love powered version of themselves, like they do in Super Sailor World Defender Corgis.  
  
That immediately gets her attention. "What?! Like, transform into super powered defenders of goodness? THIS is what you work on in your spare time?" Her eyes are sparkling and there's a big grin on her face and she's taking this train of thought and running with it, you just know it. "So! So, so, we could beat up the Mafia with the power of friendship?" Mustache Girl grins and slides closer to you, continuing her wild ride of ideas. "Or! We could run around the world and fix peoples problems? OR! Or, we could be _super crime fighting friend vigilantes_!" Now she's right next to you, looking up into a figurative spotlight, gesturing for the whole world to see. She looks to you, and she looks like she's seen a new light. "Right?"  
  
Yeah, that's technically what this is for! You nod, and she jumps up in the air, clicking her heels and dancing with glee. "YES! That sounds INCREDIBLE! What're you waiting for? _Make it_! You gotta make it!"  
  
You look back to your blueprints and sit down to do some final calculations. You could definitely make this work! Just carry the three...tinker with the mechanism's design...All your yarn is laid out on the blueprint, and you have enough! You gather up your materials and recall the last things you need: a golden trinket and the tech chips to make it function.  
  
Mustache Girl helps with some parts. She knits a pair of little cloth wings and a tiny version of your hat. "Put it on the charm! It'll be super cute!" She said, and it definitely is. She pulls a spare ribbon out of her dress and wraps the band with it, and you pull out the pin on your Magnet badge to clip the charm to the hat.  
  
By the end, you've got a little white sailor cap, with a blue stripe near the band and a purple ribbon. On it is clipped a little golden charm, decorated with the tiny purple hourglass and six other little gemstones around the center. Actually, the hourglass was a button that let you activate the transformation sequence, but it was also cute and thematic.  
  
Mustache Girl wipes the sweat from her brow and holds the hat to you. "Alright! That's the first one done!" You take the hat and smile, replacing your top hat with the Sailor Cap, then gesture Mustache Girl to stand back. You were gonna test it out.  
  
You stand back from anything important, kicking a pillow and pushing the classroom set off to the side. Mustache Girl helps in that endeavor, putting the desk and chair together and rolling the wall back into the ceiling where she dropped it. Did you include that with the plans of your ship? Or did mom put it in, and your friend just so happen to find it? It was a mystery.  
  
With the space cleared out, Mustache Girl shoves the blueprint to the side, places Rumbi into his dock, and gives you a thumbs up. You give a shaky wave in kind. You weren't entirely sure it would work right...but, at best you'd need to re-calibrate the pin.  
  
At _worst_ you'd blow yourself from orbit, but you'd rather not think of that right now.  
  
You reach up and touch the pin on your cap, feeling a soft wing on your fingers. You _missed_. You were going to look cool and do a transformation with your friend in the audience and you missed. Well, it was a good run. Might as well toss yourself into orbit rather than endure this embarrassment. What Super Sailor Corgi missed the transformation paw key on their collar?  
  
Mustache Girl notices, and nudges her head to the right. She's trying not to laugh. You blew it! You blew it. When you move your hand your fingers grace the button on the pin. Take 2.  
  
The switch clicks under your touch, and you hear a significant whirring as the mechanisms in the hat and badge come to life in an instant. It's accompanied by a cute jingle you programmed, and you feel the hat pulling up and away from your head a little bit.  
  
Light explodes into a protective bubble surrounding you while you're gently lifted into the air by the force generated. Good, so that section of script worked out fine. Lightwoven fibers stream around you in a dazzling rainbow of glitter and eye strain, weaving its way into the fabric of your clothes and making you look a bit like a walking disco ball. That was working too. Very good so far.  
  
Now for the fun part. This would be a test on the gesture-based fiber sewing system. After all, it wasn't a magical transformation without...well, a _transformation_! With both hands you pull down the hem of your dress, making it flair out into a skirt. Now, you ruffle it twice- One, two- and two more layers of light fiber form around it. Next you roll up your sleeves and make a motion like putting on gloves. Lo and behold, you now have shiny gloves! Next, the boots. You pull up your boots a bit and pull them out, giving them a new layer of shiny poofiness. You brush back your cape while it gains another level of glitter and tie two fibers around your side bangs- and that should be it! It was working like a charm!  
  
Now the finishing touches protocol. You take both of your hands and pat your chest, making a small lump of light fabric, and pull on both ends. The light fully forms and makes a little silver ribbon with a purple hourglass-shaped brooch in the center. Fantastic! You smooth the light out of your clothes and watch them come to life. Your shirt tucks into your new silvery gloves, also paired with some silver ribbons of their own. The layers of light in your dress puff out into a three-layer skirt, and your zipper even gets a bit of a change as it flairs into more of an hourglass shape. Your boots fold over themselves, both getting ribbons, and your cape gains a beautiful new sheen. Finally you tie another big ribbon to your hair, to hold up your ponytail and finish off the look.  
  
You grab your Sailor Cap back onto your head, triggering the finalization sequence. The light surrounding you starts to dissipate and the force around you begins to die down. Wait, no! You couldn't just land! You had to strike a pose! With the last remaining levitation you had, you spin in place, point your left hand to the sky, right on your hip, and land on your left foot. That _HAD_ to look cool.  
  
Mustache Girl has her eyes covered, looking down at the floor. _Of course_. The light was so bright she couldn't look into it. "Is it over?" She groans, looking back up and rubbing her eyes. She didn't see any of it. There goes those cool pose points.  
  
You try and hold the pose for as long as you can while Mustache Girl blinks the sun back out of her retinas, but very nearly fall over after a few seconds. Maybe tinkering with the light effect would be a good idea, if you didn't want to blind your teammates. Would that work? You weren't sure.  
  
You walk over and tap your friend on the shoulder. She finally opens her eyes, only to be starstruck from the moment she lays eyes on you. "Woah! Kid, is that what was going on in there?" Mustache Girl takes a minute to inspect your new attire, flipping up your cape and poking the various bows that now adorn your outfit. "That's incredible! It's like you're a brand-new Mafia-killing machine! Or like...like...a Super Time Cadet!"  
  
Mm. Still with the violence. It was true though, and you LOVED the name. Super Time Cadet...You'd take it! You nod excitedly, cap bobbing on your head. Your friend gathers up a few extra scraps of yarn, shoves them in your hand and pulls the blueprint back out. "We'll need more yarn. Let's do mine next!"  
  
...Oh. Oh no. More yarn? You grab back at the blueprint, looking over every equation, every scribble. You've made a grave miscalculation. You only had one ball of Light Fiber yarn. There were only six little scraps of it left in your hand, and you didn't have the tools to make more. Your friend notices, and gives you a little nudge. "You okay there, buddy?"

You sigh. No. You weren't okay. You apologize to Mustache Girl.

 _You could only make one hat._  
  
"...Wait, what?" Mustache Girl looks at the blueprints, then back at you, then at the hat. She goes through a complete emotional transformation, but this one...for the worse. "So...It'll be just one of us, then?" She deflates and sits on the floor, fiddling with a stick of chalk. "That's okay, I guess? You don't NEED a team of crime fighting vigilantes. Just one." She rests her hands on her face, getting white and yellow dust all over her eyebrows and mustache. "I don't do hats anyway. They're not my style."  
  
Aw man, she was gonna _cry_ and there would be chalk dust _everywhere_ and you're _filled_ with regret. You really weren't cut out to be a villain. And what kind of friend were you if you just flaunted a new hat and DIDN'T give your bestie a way to fight crime with you?...What would Kogi Pawperoni do?  
  
Well, when he got his World Defender kerchief in the first episode, he used his claws to rip it up and make it into collars for his friends. Even though it was different from the whole kerchief, the collars worked with the power of friendship...  
  
Maybe, with these scraps of yarn, you could make something else. What else did you have?  
  
You tip toe around your blueprints and rest again at the main computer. One hand fiddles with a pen while the other rolls around in the inventory of your ship. Whatever you found, there at least needed to be an activator button and room for mechanics. You had a rainbow of hourglass charms for necklaces, a protractor- could a protractor be a magical item?- spare parts for Rumbi, wood, glue, wood glue, hairpins- no, too small- a bunch of spare ballpoint pens, seventeen more pillows, a broken watch, two failed Sailor Cap prototypes...  
  
"Hey, kid? Could you stop clicking that pen?" You glance back at Mustache Girl, who is still sitting at your blueprints. "It's really kind of annoying."  
  
You nod and apologize before looking and clicking the pen to retract the ballpoint. Click. Button. It was a _button_. It wasn't big, but...you could make it work.  
  
With a beep boop bop bop you recall a whole mess of pens, replacement parts, the prototypes, circuitry, and the charms on accident. That was fine! You could definitely use them. Another chute opened up and spewed materials all over the blueprints. Mustache Girl looked up from her frustration, and back at you. "What's all this for?"  
  
You explain that the complex mechanisms that are inside your pin are easily replicatable, now that you know the proper settings, and that you could fit them inside of a pen.  
  
There it is! Her smile comes back, mustache dusted in chalk and glitter and she grabs all the pens she can get her hands on. "Well what are you waiting for?! Let's get started!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to DelWrites for letting me scream at her while I wrote this!
> 
>  
> 
> [Oh, and here's a reference pic for the Super Time Cadet outfit and the pose Hat Kid makes!](https://78.media.tumblr.com/bcb6f963a6f3aa28d2932abc7dfb5c52/tumblr_inline_p5pwazsUv71qmndd6_500.png)


End file.
